Your brooding teen: Just moody or mentally ill?

The problem with these "stories" is that a marketing attempt is being made to equate growing up with mental illness.  Common sense indicates that's a false premise.  These stories are not very helpful.

Larry B,

I agree with you. All teens act like this during puberty. They are not mentally ill. This is just an excuse for the drug companies to keep people hooked on their drugs for the rest of their lives.

No doubt some teens truly are experiencing the beginnings of various mental illnesses.  I had huge problems with depression as a teenager, but back then, doctors didn't prescribe medication for every little thing.  I did go to several psychologists but none of them, in hindsight, were very competent.  As an adult I eventually did get diagnosed bi-polar and put on medication, but along with therapy, I got permission to wean myself off and I haven't taken any meds in years. 

I feel certain that with a competent therapist, I could've learned better ways to handle my depression and my typical teenage problems.  Medication definitely helped me get to a stable place where I could learn to deal with my mood swings and irrational behaviors, but I didn't want to use medication as an excuse, I didn't want to have to take a pill every day for the rest of my life so I learned how to handle it. 

The problem is many people don't learn to handle their problems and would rather pass them off as something out of their control that's making them feel badly.  The focus should be on therapy rather than medication except in more severe cases.

I'm 56 years old when I was growing up my Dad and Mom told me to get over my pouting or i'd get my but kicked. They always taught me was was right and that's  how it was. Todays kids aren't taught anything from most parents then they wonder how our kids end up the way they are. Kids need taught from the start how to act and respect people. Another ploy to stuff kids full of drugs instead of parents being real parents.

A drug dealer is a drug dealer is a drug dealer.  The expert cites his "connections" with legitimate science and states his credentials in order to sanitize whatever he says no matter how false, unscientific, vague and general.  If enough people over a broad spectrum receive enough money for all this, a package of lies or misrepresentations or vague generalities are made to take on the patina of being clinical and professional when in fact, it all boils down to a drug dealer is a drug dealer is a drug dealer.  And if you believe there is karma, anything really bad done by others always comes back to them.  So if the drugs a person or profession(?) sells or promotes are actually associated with suicide, homicide, school shootings or permanent cumulative physiological and/or mental disability, the consequences of being a part of causing such will always come back to that person or business ultimately, sooner or later.

My parents sent me to threapy when i was a teenager and did everythign they could to have me put on medication for depression among other things they wanted to be wrong with me.  My threapist refused and only kept seeing me so i would have an exuse to get out of my house for a couple of hours every week.  He said i would be fine once i turned 18 and moved out on my own. 

You know what? I took his advice and now i'm cured!

Seriously though, Pills and therapy are not a replacement for talking (and listening!) to your kids.

*sigh*  "Mental Illness and how it can strike your child at anytime!"

Yes, be fearful America.  All teenagers are insane, now promptly drug 'em and lock 'em up!

I also, cringe when I hear these stories because then it gives parents and excuse to deny responsibility.   In turn, it also gives teenagers and excuse.   Suddenly they are failing because they have anxiety, but not because they are awake at all hours playing video games.

This article was not very useful, except to maybe drum up business for pills and psychotherapists.

Seriously, mental illness is real, and some teens do have legitimate issues that can be diagnosed and treated.  Other teens are completely normal, but could be misdiagnosed for just "being teenagers".

What would be far more useful than this article would be a fair and impartial list of criteria a parent could use to judge whether the behavior really is just "a phase" or is a mental illness, instead of trying to incite a general bias one way or the other.

I'm a therapist, and I agree that this article is not very helpful.  For one thing, they seem to be confusing "personality disorder" with "mood disorder".  

Sorry, but I don't buy into the mental illness idea.  I had two terrible teenagers who got through high school and college okay and are now productive, well-adjusted young adults.  Growing up is traumatic and difficult; there are going to be a lot of problems.  That's just the way it is.  Assuming that a teenager is mentally ill really does not help.  From my experience, the psychiatrists and drug counselors only tend to make the problems worse; that's what they are in business for, after all.

The article rings true for me. My daughter was 15 when the rebellion and the complete change in personality started. At 21 she had a baby, then the psychosis started, then the hospitalization. She was diagnosed bipolar. At 32, she's unable to work, listens to music all day, and takes her meds. A real great life.

Look at all the comments saying the same thing! Americans: we've got a problem, and the problem is DRUG COMPANY PAYOLA!

Two other points:

  A kid's problem is often the reflection of some deficiency by the parent. Instead of trying to fix the kid, fix the parent.

 Ever hear of this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Observer-expectancy_effect ? It can also work positively with amazing results this way: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pygmalion_effect !

Right on about the pharm companies - actually, a very popular allergy/asthma medication causes the exact mental disorders, mood swings, bipolar, etc., described as "mental illness" in many children and adults - SINGULAIR.  But instead of recognizing the "Rare" side effects listed for this drug, which are not rare at all, the patient is then further medicated for disorders CAUSED by SINGULAIR.  My 4 year old daughter is proof in the pudding, along with thousands of other children/adults.  From bipolar, ADHD, night terrors, OCD's, (list goes on and on) to perfectly normal 4 year old after discontinuing SINGULAIR.

Check the FDA website for ANY medication - over the counter and prescription for complete labeling information.  Do NOT overlook the "rare side effects" - they really are not rare at all.

My son (my only biological child) committed suicide at 21.  I missed the signs and will have to live with that guilt forever.  We need to find a way to bring this issue to the public, and I thank you for the article.  OH, and thanks to you guys who are blaming the parents.  That makes me feel a lot better.

This article highlights the number of unquestioned value judgments within "unsophisticated" understandings of mental illness - that happiness is more valuable than unhappiness, that normality is more valuable than normality, etc. In their current state, psychiatric diagnoses represent little more than constillations of symptoms which DO NOT represent an underlining disease entity. (There are some exceptions to this, such as Alzheimer's disease.)

A mood disorder or personality disorder is not a disease in the medical sense of the term. In a medical sense, a disease is an objectively demonstratable departure from adaptive (meaning evolutionary) biological functioning. Most evolutionary psychologists argue that these "disorders" actually may have had beneficial effects for our ancestors.

Life is full of struggles, conflicts, failures, and suffering. I don't think these aspects of existence should be transformed into pathologies merely because they are unpleasant. Sometimes depression, sadness, grief, failure, and pain can be more constructive and meaningful than happiness.

I'm 14  and suffering with depression and my 19-year-old sister is as well. We have both seriously contimplated suicide and self-harmed. We have a history of depression in our family so it makes sense that we suffer from the disease. Unfortunately, my mom likes to pretend that nothing is wrong. She says that I'm just going through an "emo fase" and that it will pass eventually. Because of my genes there is a good chance that both my sister and I have something truly wrong with our brains, but because of the "moody teenager" stereotype my mom refuses to get me any help. She's in denial. My hormones have little to do with this. I HAVE LEGITIMATE PROBLEMS! This article actually represents young adults like myself and shows "grown-up" America that we really do need help.

Psychologists and psychiatrists have led the world in trying to sort out the symptoms until recently. 

  Now, neuropsychiatrists use functional scans to see parts of the brain malfunctioning and can predict more accurately those that have problems thatneed medication and/or therapy.  Some people are not going to function very well without major psychiatric or epilepsy medications, but treatment with talk therapy is just as good as medication for others.  Using studies of the physical brain, treatment choices are becoming more efficient and professionals are more successful.

New studies are finding genetic indicators for the tendency to develop certain types of unusual function, esp autism, depression, schizophrenia, and some seizures.  Familial tendencies for certain types of functioning, even in children reared apart from the family, have been noticed for a long time.

In a well-functioning family within a good environment, teenagers usually behave pretty well and talk deeply with someone in the family.  The fact that the current culture tends to produce a lot of teenagers who are not this well adjusted is frightening.

 This article makes one very important point: if people are unhappy or behaving badly, there is usually a reason and using professional help in one form or another (even if it is just to replace the extended family of other times) can really improve the quality of life.

If people realized how much the brain grows and changes everyday, especially in teenagers, they would be very reluctant to stand the teenager alone in a bad environment that progressively writes itself into his very brain cells, making it harder to recover the longer this influence continues.

Good treatment may be expensive but poor treatment is often much more costly.

All children and adolescents need guidelines and actually want them. Too many kids today are not getting that. Oh they put up a stink when told NO, but if they learn from VERY early on No means No they adjust. That makes it easier on both parents and their children.

There are times when it's easier to fall back and say my parent(s) are just stodgy old poops, but I can't go; Then it is to say, No to their friends and appear peculiar. They want to fit in. Teaching a child to be truly independent ( not the false assumption I can do what I want when I want) takes time. Time equates to love and is the gift we all need.

Time not timed medication. Today too many things are a quick fix. That doesn't work in the long term, with broken furniture, autos in need of repair, or people who need attention. They don't need things or meds they need us to be there for them, especially when they're not all that lovable.

I am one of the mothers quoted in this article. While my daughter's depression is being treated with antidepressants she is also receiving spiritual counselling (not talk-therapy from a psychiatrist as the journalist stated). The medications help her function but the real healing has come through spiritual counselling.

Jenna was able to graduate from high school this past June (a year behind her peers). She has been employed at a coffee shop for more than a year now and was promoted to supervisor several months ago. She deals with the public every day and with the stressful issues that arise at work.  In August she moved into her own apartment and now supports herself. These are amazing accomplishments for someone who couldn't leave the house a couple of years ago. Jenna would like to attend university in the future but doesn't feel mentally ready for that at this point.

In no way to I believe that medication (or medical treatment) is the answer for everyone. During my nine-year battle with depression I took every form of medical and psychological therapy offered to me--including 20 antidepressants, more than 100 electroconvulsive treatments (shock treatments), and 80 weeks as a patient in hospital psychiatric wards--but they did not heal my depression. In year nine I decided to seek spiritual counselling from a counsellor who shared my faith and within three months was free from depression. I never returned to the psychiatric ward, never had another ECT treatment, and no longer needed medication or the care of a psychiatrist. A decade has passed and I remain free from depression.

For me, freedom came from discovering and addressing the spiritual roots of my illness, something no medication or psychologist could help me do. You can learn more about this in my book, HOPE FOR WHOLENESS: The Spiritual Path to Freedom from Depression.

Sharon Fawcett

Oddly enough, the author of this story has written about conflicts of interest that health reporters can face in researching and writing their stories.  When you see unproven baldly commercial pseudo-scientific theories that a teenager's moodiness masks mental illness, mental illness becomes so generalized as to become like health gossip and not of much use to parents.  Teenagers do not want to be punished for being moody by being labelled mentally ill and drugged for life.  And no responsible parent would knowlingly have their teen drugged for life unless they hated them that much.  It seems when journalists never question the experts about their generalized "expert" statements when such seem baldly commercial instead of informational, the public interest has been bought and sold and it is difficult to not quickly reach the conclusion that the journalists are being bought off in the same way the researchers are, and just like the researchers, aren't admitting it. 

play soccer it cures everything.

Larry B, when your teenager was feeling suicidal and couldn't leave her bed, what did you do that helped her function and made her want to live again? While I am not a defender of pharmaceuticals or pharmaceutical companies (I myself am a pharmaceutical failure) I do know that occasionally medication works. I also know it is often very dangerous--especially for children and adolescents. You say that a responsible parent would never have their teen drugged for life, would they have their teen "drugged" for a year or two until she responded to counselling? Or would they tell her to just get over it and go play soccer? (As kiro2317 suggests.)

I do not believe a teen's moodiness masks mental illness; what we call "moodiness" is often a SYMPTOM of the mental illness. When it is dismissed as normal teenage angst, adolescents who truly are mentally ill fail to get much-needed treatment--whether that be treatment for the body/brain, emotions, or spirit.

Please let me know what I should have done differently for a daughter who wanted to die every day and who wasn't athletic enough to make the soccer team.

many young people are acting out in different ways..the world we live in today,the pressure to be the best in everything is forced into the young minds...from a very young age...i'm not saying that all parents are too blame,i'm just saying....teach your kids to be them self,do the best the can...they do not live their life for everyone else.

mental illness and whatever else some doctors and socalled experts can it....most teenagers feel that they can't fit in unless they change the veiws and the person they are...tv,magazines,radio,movies ect. blows up in their faces with a statement that tells them to be this,be that,you got to look like this ...not all young people have the streight to look past that....not saying that weak people gets depressions,i'm saying that sensitive people are likely too.

i'm pisst that doctors around the world give out pills...prozac nation..pills does nothing for anyone...just gets you a addiction,that in most cases are hell to get out off.

i'm a wild teen....well i have been...i wanted to die,i wanted to kill everyone to get out of this life,i didn't see a meaning with my existens....didn't fit in....never followed the growd.

my mom....i know it was hell for her....she tryed to talk....she tryed...everything,even a shrink.

i'm older now....found a meaning with my life...what i want to do..

keep your children close,be open to their views,don't forces communication...let them live and tell them not to measure themself after models on tv or moviestars..

with that said....problably the worst thing you can do or say to anyone is 'it's just a fase,it will past'.a depression can be better,but it stays inside of you..

damn i lost the tread now....

I've had enough of this, and I agree with most of the other posters. This is just a way to drum up business as usual for the drug companies. Granted there are people out there who do need treatment but not every little thing a teen does is grounds for medicating them. I went through a long stage of being medicated by these quacks from 11-18 and I've been off the meds I've been told I would need to take for the rest of my life and I'm doing better then I ever did on them to begin with. I'm not depressed anymore. My mood swings have gone down drastically and all from the benefit of getting off the meds. These people are nothing more but legal drug dealers and at least illegal drug dealers don't try to force you to stay on them. They are preying on parents concern and banking on their ignorance and america's youth is suffering because of it.

"Other red flags include ... cutting, or self-injury, which can be a precursor to suicide."

This is untrue and a dangerous thing to tell parents who are possibly concerned about their teens' behaviour. As a teen, I suffered from major depression (I once didn't leave my bedroom for three weeks) and turned to cutting to "focus" my pain. Though this was clearly destructive behaviour, it did help (at the time) to manage what I was feeling. 

Cutting and suicide are in no way related, except through what causes them - depression. A parent who believes their child is at a risk for suicide may perform some type of intervention that could in fact be harmful to the depressed child. The child, indignant and probably hurt by his/her parents' failure to "understand", may begin to self-harm more frequently and maybe in ways that are permanently damaging.

The vast majority of research on suicide or cutting in the last few years will back up my statements (example book: Cutting: understanding and overcoming self-mutilation, by Steven Levenkron). I find it quite shameful that an author on a major Canadian news site would not take the time to check the literature before adding a dangerous untruth to an article.